This invention relates to rotary kiln assemblies, a method of changing seal arrangements and to seal arrangements for use in a rotary kiln assembly.
Rotary kiln assemblies may be used for gas/liquid/solid counter or co-current reactions and comprise an inlet arrangement, the rotary kiln itself and an outlet arrangement. It is to be understood that materials can be fed into or extracted from either the inlet arrangement or the outlet arrangement. Seal arrangements are needed between the inlet arrangement/rotary kiln and between the rotary kiln/outlet arrangement so that loss of valuable materials can be avoided and, in the case of unpleasant or toxic substances, escape of materials may be prevented.
It is desirable for maintenance purposes that seal arrangements be changed on a periodic basis and, of course, if a seal arrangement should fail it is desirable that it should be replaced with minimum loss of production. Unfortunately, replacement of seal arrangements is not straightforward because there are constraints upon what part of the kiln assembly can be moved, owing to inconvenience associated with time and effort related to disturbance of and consequent difficulties of re-alignment of the rotary kiln assembly and with associated equipment, especially in the case of large kilns. In particular, relative movement between parts of the kiln assembly is best avoided during seal changing.
One type of rotary kiln assembly is described in United Kingdom Patent Specification Ser. No. 1341379, but there is no teaching in this specification concerning how seal arrangements should be changed, nor that such changing is desirable. Further, one of the seal arrangements shown in the above-numbered British Patent Specification cannot be removed without axial movement of the rotary kiln or outlet arrangement.
An object of the present invention is to seek to provide a rotary kiln assembly able to have its seal arrangements changed without relative movement of the rotary kiln or outlet arrangement, a method of changing seal arrangements and a seal arrangement for use in rotary kiln assembly.